January 24, 2008

Dear Friends of the MNMA,

We have reached a new stage in the life of the organization that has been known as the Music Notation Modernization Association (MNMA), and are marking this transition by adopting a new name, a new mission statement, and a newly updated website: 

The Music Notation Project

http://musicnotationproject.org

Why the change?

In the last few years our forms of communication and membership have changed, our leadership has undergone a transition, and our goals have evolved and expanded.

New Forms of Communication and Membership

For many years the MNMA had a membership who paid dues and received a quarterly journal.  Communication between members was largely through journal articles and letters to the editor.  Following Tom Reed’s retirement as editor of Music Notation News at the end of 2004 we have not had a journal, dues, or membership.  Instead we have been relying on our website and online Forum, both of which have been successful new avenues for ongoing discussions and communications.  In short, we have shifted our immediate focus from print media to digital media and fostering an online community.

New Leadership

After retiring as editor of Music Notation News, Tom Reed initiated discussions among the MNMA officers about re-naming the organization and revising its bylaws.  It seemed as good a time as any for a reassessment. This revealed diverging opinions about the focus and direction of the organization, and the discussions were dropped.  In 2006, following John Keller’s success using Finale software for alternative notations, Tom proposed conducting a second evaluation test that would follow the same basic design as the first test.  This test would determine one or two notations on which we would focus our software efforts.  Others were more interested in developing and distributing software that had more extensive support for a wide variety of notations, and then eventually using it to conduct a different kind of evaluation test that focused more on reading.  

At this point Tom decided to disband the MNMA, letting this new effort proceed without him under different leadership.  Under Tom’s initiative the MNMA’s nonprofit status was dissolved in 2007, and its financial assets and the remaining copies of its publications were donated to the the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota.  In exchange, the museum agreed to continue to sell the MNMA’s publications and would be allowed to retain any proceeds from their sale.

Some of the MNMA officers -- Scott Reed (Executive Director), Mark Gaare (Vice President), and Laurel Adams (Treasurer) -- did not express an interest in leadership roles in a new organization.  Three other officers --  Michael Johnston (Communications Officer, co-organizer of the 1999 evaluation test), Doug Keislar (Secretary, co-organizer of the 1999 evaluation test), and Paul Morris (Webmaster) -- had been serving on an MNMA website committee formed in 2006. The three of them agreed to establish a new organization with a new name and mission statement.  They invited Kevin Dalley and John Keller to join them, given their level of commitment and expertise working on software for alternative notations, a key focus of the new organization.  Over the past ten months this five-person governing board has been working on formulating a new name, mission statement, and website for the new organization.  

Reformulated Goals and Mission Statement

As expressed in the MNMA's by-laws, the main goal of the MNMA was “to help modernize our method of notating music.”  This entailed conducting evaluative research “to attempt to reach conclusions about the adoption of one or more notation systems in addition to, or in the eventual orderly replacement of, traditional notation.”  The MNMA’s efforts in this direction culminated in the 1999 evaluation test.  

Since then our focus has expanded to include developing new software that would make further research, experimentation, and use of various music notations much more feasible.  While we are still interested in research that evaluates different systems, we believe we can best further such comparative work through the development of software that can rapidly convert a lot of music into a wide variety of systems. This is reflected in our new mission statement:

The mission of the Music Notation Project is to raise awareness of the disadvantages of traditional music notation, to explore alternative music notation systems, and to provide resources for the wider consideration and use of these alternatives.

We wish to honor Tom Reed for his decades of service toward a better music notation, and specifically for founding the MNMA. His dedication, patience, and broad-mindedness have been exemplary. As an editor, writer, notation inventor, and conference organizer, he has published a remarkable quantity of information, from which we all benefit. We are grateful for all that he has done.

Over the past ten months or so a lot of work has gone into making this transition happen. We welcome everyone’s thoughts and participation as we embark on this new project and its ongoing work in the area of alternative music notation systems!

Please contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,

Kevin Dalley
Doug Keislar
John Keller
Michael Johnston
Paul Morris (webmaster)

Members of the board of the Music Notation Project.